To Absent Friends
by Bob Regent
Summary: This was originally part of a series called 'Tales from the Barman' on Twisting the Hellmouth but I wanted to put it on here: A hello and a goodbye from old friends.


To Absent Friends...

"Excuse me?"

Xander looked up at the familiarly accented voice in front of him, looking up from the takings book he focused on a petite young woman. She looked around the place before returning her attention to him. Smiling gently he closed the records book and slid it outside.

"I'm sorry to bother you but I seem to be quite lost."

"Well I'm Xander, Xander Harris. Welcome to Nights."

"Nights?"

"My bar, I guess you're a little way from home."

"You'd be right, unless this pub is close to Croydon." She smiled slightly

"Sorry you're a bit far from England, you're in Cleveland Ohio."

"America?"

"Yep."

"I don't know, I mean I was in London I think, a hospital maybe?"

"Whoa whoa." Xander replied, "We're closed but I'll make an exception in this case, did you come through that door over there?"

"No, no I don't think so. I was just standing here."

"Would you like a drink, I've got beers, wines, spirits, tea, coffee, chocolate."

"Hot chocolate please."

"Take a seat, I'll be right with you."

The young woman looked around the bar, she's been to more than a few in her years and this one seemed more suited to the seedier side of things if it hadn't been for the barman and the 'feel' of the place. Comfortable and like home was the best way to describe it, she stared for a while at the wall at the back of the bar, all kinds of paraphernalia were scattered around the bar, on the wall and even hanging from the ceiling.

"People sometimes give something to put on the wall after telling a story to two."

"I'm not sure what I could tell you to be honest, most of my work for several decades could be considered classified and the rest no one would believe anyway."

"You'd be surprised."

"I was just a journalist, just an ordinary person on the street but the things I've seen have terrified trained soldiers, killed people that could wipe out entire civilizations with a single flick of their finger. Heroes and villains brought back from the brink of death as someone else, lost friends and family, seen far too many funerals for people who have died before their time…"

"Lost who you are, what you are, wondering if you were better off before or after your life changed. Wondered if you are more or less than you should be?"

The woman blinked as the young man- Xander finished off her thoughts in his own words, life seemed to have affected him as badly as it had her in places. He slid a hot chocolate in front of her while putting a glass of orange juice in front of himself, cocking an eyebrow he smiled slightly as she took a drink from her cup. Her eyes closed at the feeling of the sweet concoction slipping into her stomach.

"One of the hazards of being a barman, sooner or later you don't want alcohol, sodas or coffee. I've got all kinds of other drinks but for the moment this one will do for me. So have you got anything you want to get off your mind?"

"I think... over the years I've see so much that i don't know where to begin."

"The Beginning might help."

"Hmm, not funny Mr. Harris."

"Xander please."

"Ok if you want the beginning, it started with a Doctor. If you were ever to ask a Doctor of what, he's simply say 'of everything' or 'of whatever I need to be'. He was the most infuriating, annoying, absent minded, random and incredible person that anyone could ever hope to meet. He showed me things that I could never truly understand nor could ever really hope to, then one day I went home and he was gone. I didn't see him again for thirty years and even then he was different, I was different but if he had asked just once if I wanted to go back with him I would have said yes and to hell with the consequences." She said, "Every moment of my life from the second I met him was changed, I would have done anything for him to come back and let me come with him but even now after all this time I knew he wouldn't let me. My time was over, he had someone else now."

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she remembered the pain of being left behind, the anguish that turned into bitterness then melancholy as the decades passed her by without her hero returning. Her work took over her life with few friends or acquaintances remaining, far too many now lost to her, too many funerals to those who had given everything to save the people around them without notice, without reward.

"I found my way back, I made myself fight the anger that I felt. I adopted my son, allowed myself a family that I never believed I could have trying to keep him and his friends safe just brought them more trouble. They were younger than I ever was when I started the fight, I wanted to... to stop them and keep them away from that life but they wouldn't leave me to fight this on my own." A box of tissues appeared on the bar, "But something finally brought me down, something that no-one could stop before it put me into the hospital... I was dying."

She barely noticed as two figures sat to either side of her at the bar, the man to her right ordered for them both. The woman barely heard what he said only the last few words pierced the haze around her."

"...Sarah Jane's having."

Her head shot up eyes widening as she stared at the figure next to her, looking as he did so many years ago, curly hair cut close to his head while his brown sheepskin coat sat over a Navy uniform with turtleneck. He looked down at the smaller woman with a smile and saluted her with his cup of Hot Chocolate.

"It's nice to see you again Sarah Jane."

"Ha...Harry..."

"Well you seem to have made the young lady speechless Lieutenant, something that I believe took even the Doctor a few years to master."  
She spun around to her left, the other figure was as recognisable as the first, dressed in an old fashioned but serviceable British Army uniform complete with ranking epaulets, piping and cap. The only thing that looked out of place was the evident bright smile that she so rarely saw on the face of the older man, he likewise toasted her with his cup.

"Sir Alistair..."

"I believe that you always did prefer Brigadier Miss Smith, feel free to use it if you wish. Lt Sullivan still does."

"No... this isn't possible. Harry you've been gone for over twenty years, Brigadier your funeral was only a few months ago."

"Yes I remember it well, I didn't realise just how many people would have cared enough to attend an old man's funeral let alone with a procession."

"The Doctor..."

"Yes I believe all eleven of them were there at one point or another."

"Eleven?" Harry replied, "I didn't know he'd gone that far, it was only seven when mine happened."

"Yes apparently he's had more than one in the last ten years alone."

Sarah Jane Smith looked at both men as if they were crazy, aliens, ghosts or anything in between. Her mind raced and given the years and the stress that she had had been through she began to question if she was even seeing what she was seeing, dead men talking about their own funerals. She slipped from her chair and backed away slightly she turned to find a way out but stopped as she looked in a mirror.

Her hair was longer and darker with a curl to the end that she hadn't had since the seventies, her face was almost unlined without wrinkles, scars or any of the signs that she was already over sixty years old. She barely looked twenty, she looked like she did when she and Harry and traveled with the Doctor.

"Sometimes things happen in this bar without rhyme or reason." The young American man stepped up from behind her, "That door links to what can only be described as the multiverse. Hundreds people from this world, others, times and places that exist in legend or sometimes in fiction have walked through that door and out again having just had the chance for a time out. Every one of them had a reason for being here even if they don't know why, me I don't know why I'm here and why that door works the way it does but I don't let it worry me. Maybe you shouldn't either.

"But none of this makes sense, Harry and the Brigadier look the way they did when I met them, I look the way I do when I met them but it was so long ago..." Sarah Jane looked in the mirror as the consequences of her being there came to light in her mind, it wasn't a trick or an attempt to get at someone through her. This was real, or as real as she could believe. "I was in the hospital; I was ill very ill and had been for a while. Nobody knew not even my son before I was taken in, I'm dead aren't I."

"I really don't know, I'm just a bartender."

"I doubt you are 'just' anything Xander."

Xander just gave a lop-sided smile, "Ok I'm also a bartender, but I doubt you are just a reporter or just a person on the street Miss Smith."

"She was far more than that." Harry Sullivan piped up as he walked across, "Sarah Jane Smith became more than she believed she could be, otherwise the Doctor would never have taken her with him."

"Jo Jones told me that every one of us was changed by the very presence of the Doctor, each of us did something that we didn't have to do or even need to do. We did it because it was the right thing to do." Sarah replied, "I just did what I thought he would do."

"Quite right," boomed the Brigadier, "Even after you left us we kept an eye on you Miss Smith, I must admit you had us going more than once. Fortunately now, myself and Mr Sullivan here can keep an eye on you."

"Well we can try at least."

"But my son Luke, the kids, they didn't even know I was ill let alone dying. What's going to happen to them now?" Sarah panicked, "I didn't leave them a guardian or any way to keep on after I left them; I didn't have the time before I was taken into the hospital."

Sir Alistair strode up to the younger woman and held onto her shoulders gently, they had known each other far too long for him to use the 'Commanding officer' bravado that characterised him throughout his time with UNIT and within the British Army itself. What was more she was a close and valued friend that he was only sorry he had not spent more time with.

"After our last encounter Sarah I checked on as many of the Doctor's former companions as I possibly could. I was quite amazed at how many he had met over the years and how many were still alive, although one or two had seemed to have gone missing such as that young flower woman. Once we realised just how many there were UNIT kept an eye on all of you just in case something happened although most of the time it seemed you didn't need the assistance." He took a step back allowing Harry to take his place.

"Besides Sarah do you really think that the Doctor will let them be without doing something to help them, he was very fond of you, from what I recall." Putting an arm around the woman, she leant her head into his shoulder.

"Indeed, more so some of the most recent ones from what UNIT records make out."

"I just wish I had done something to help them before this all happened." None of them saw the bartender look up at them and then around the bar as if searching for something. "Luke's at university and the others will be at home now with their families, there's nothing that I can do for them now is there."

"I'm afraid not old girl." Harry smirked at her look as he called her by an old nickname.

"That's something I've not missed about you." She scowled before softening, "So what now?"

"Well I'm going to get another drink." Harry replied, "Think they'll mind that Sir?"

"I doubt it, Barkeep, three Scotches, Bailie if you have it."

"I have Eighteen, twenty six or fifty years old Sir."

"The Twenty Six then if you would." The Brigadier ordered, a few moments later three tumblers appeared on the table each with a generous helping of the strong alcohol in the bottom of the glass. "Thank you, would you care to join us."

"I would be honoured Sir." Xander poured a small measure into another glass.

"To those whom join the fight," Alistair said

"To those whom never made it back," Harry toasted

"To those who are still to come," Sarah replied

"And to those who never give up." Xander ended

All four tipped back the powerful drink in a single go; the Brigadier and Xander savouring the liquid while the other two began coughing at the strength of the Scotch.

"I thought being dead would make this kind of thing easier." Sarah Jane coughed

"Once you get used to it again it will." The Brigadier replied, "Now I believe that our time here is at an end. I'm afraid Mr. Harris that we don't have much on us to pay you with for the drinks."

"For tonight Sir, the drinks were on the house. Good luck on the other side Sir." He shook the officer's hand. "To all of you."

"If you ever meet a man who seems to be a little out of place no matter what he does, let him know that I said goodbye please." Sarah Jane said, "And look after your friends Xander Harris you never know what will happen."

"Good luck old chap," Harry said. "We'll see you in a while just make sure it's not too soon hmm?"

"I'll try Sir."

"Good Man."

With that the three companions walked away from the bar and through the door to the broom cupboard, the door closed behind them leaving the American proprietor behind alone. With a slight smile he gathered up the small pile of glasses and cups and gently laid them inside the dishwasher, as much as he wondered if the crockery would be useful after being touched by literal angels he wasn't going to risk the possibility of them entered into anyone else's hands. Besides if they were truly blessed then a quick soap and clean wouldn't harm them.

Slipping away from behind the bar he walked towards the other side of the bar and sat down at a seemingly random table. He looked across at the other figure; the man looked around his own age or slightly younger in a crumpled brown suit and bow tie. He was still staring at the place that the three Brits had stood only minutes before, he looked across at the human beside him before yanking a key from around his neck and putting it into his pocket.

"Why didn't you say anything?" The man asked.

"It wasn't my place. You've been in here a bunch of times with a different face every time. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Those three, Harry, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane are the people I remember the most in all my time traveling. I've had dozens of companions, assistants, friends and loved ones in my nine hundred years but some have stuck with me more than any of the others." The Doctor replied, "I don't ever really say goodbye, times I've never had the chance to, other times I'm too scared to. This one, this one would have killed me, again."

"If you never say goodbye, how can they know how much you cared for them. Sarah Jane didn't say goodbye to her family, I'm pretty sure she would've included you." With that Xander stood up and walked away, he still had things to do before the night was over.

In the silence of the Bar the Doctor looked at the place where Sarah Jane Smith, Lieutenant Harry Sullivan and Brigadier General Sir Alistair Gordon Leithbridge-Stewart had stood. Standing up himself he walked into the centre of the room and stood facing door they had left through.

"Goodbye Sarah Jane." He said finally allowing his tears to run, "I'll look after everyone, I promise."

Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS (Joss Whedon), Doctor Who (BBC Worldwide), or Nights (Methos.)

Dedication:  
For Elisabeth Sladen who brought us the ever young Sarah Jane Smith, we'll miss you SJS.  
For Nicholas Courtney who was THE Brigadier, Our Brigadier and the only one who counted, Five Rounds Rapid Sir.  
For Ian Marter who was the ever memorable Harry Sullivan, look after our Sarah old man.


End file.
